1st T20I – INDIA VS SRI LANKA – FANTASY PREVIEW

Team India ready to face Sri Lanka in three-match T20I series which begins in Cuttack on Wednesday night. The home side secured both Test and ODI series successfully, now shift their focus on shorter format of the game. Who will start the account first in this series? The first T20I between India vs Sri Lanka scheduled to start at 7 PM Local | 1:30 PM GMT on Wednesday, 20th December 2017.

INDIA :

This is India’s third T20I series at home in this season. First Team India shared 3-match T20I series with Australia, then defeated New Zealand 2-1 last month. Currently, India in 5th rank in the ICC’s T20 team rankings. If they win this series with clean sweep, have a bright chances to be inside top 3. On the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli, vice-captain Rohit Sharma will lead the team in the series. Indian squad fills with many young players along with former captain MS Dhoni. Rohit Sharma is expected to open the innings along with KL Rahul on Wednesday. After dropped for the ODIs, KL Rahul makes his return to Indian side. He has lot of things to prove in this series to cement his place in the Indian limited overs team. Rohit Sharma who won three IPL trophies for Mumbai Indians, has a role to play in this series. He scored a stunning third ODI double-century last week and no wonder if he comes with T20I century in Cuttack. After shown stunning performances in the ODI series, the young Mumbaikar Shreyas Iyer will takes the place at no. 3 in the batting order. He scored runs quickly in the ODIs, hopefully, will score runs more quick in shorter format.

Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik hold their places in all three ODIs. Manish Pandey didn’t get an opportunity to bat in last two ODI matches. Karthik found the form somehow and scored unbeaten 26 runs on Sunday. As the all-rounder Deepak Hooda in the side and awaiting for his opportunities, some sort of chances for Manish Pandey to make a way for Hooda who could hit the bowl hard and also bowls off-spin. The most experienced player in the group, former captain MS Dhoni will take care of middle-order with his experiences and his power-hitting skills. He also gives you more points with his quick wicket-keeping skills behind the stumps, we all knew that and no need to explain about him. Hardik Pandya didn’t get much batting chances in the ODIs but he shined with a ball. His medium-pace bowling will come into play and he is about to play very big role in this game. Don’t be surprised if he promoted up in the order and bat at no. 3 or 4 on Wednesday night.

The 18-years old all-rounder Washington Sundar has done a very good job in IPL earlier this year. Those performances will take him into T20I XI and he will make a debut. If Sundar gets a chance in the XI, then possibly Hooda won’t be. The leggie Yuzvendra Chahal and the wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav will continue to take of spin department in this game. Both of them have done a great job in the final ODI and shared 6 wickets among them on Sunday. The pace attack will be led by Jasprit Bumrah, the no. 1 T20I bowler in the world. Bumrah settled with only 4 wickets in the ODI series, but his crucial four overs will play a huge part in this game. Javdev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj and Basil Thampi are other pace bowlers in the squad. Either one among those three will get a place in the XI. If India prefers to go with the left-arm fast bowler then Unadkat would be a man who gets a game. Otherwise, Basil Thampi has a chance to make his International debut.

SRI LANKA :

Sri Lanka faced the whitewash in their last T20I series against Pakistan two months ago. Thisara Perera who led the side against Pakistan, will lead the team against India too. So many chances were made in Sri Lanka T20 squad compared to the series against Pakistan. The brilliant batting display of Upul Tharanga in the last ODI gives lot of hopes for Sri Lankan unit. The experienced top-order batsman smashed a hat-trick half-centuries in the recently concluded BPL season. He is expected to play an impressive knock once again. His partner in the ODIs, Danushka Gunathilaka failed to cope up with the expectations. The 26-years old left-hander managed to score only 30 runs in 3 innings in the ODI series. That form may push him down in the order or will throw him out of the XI for the hard-hitter Kusal Perera. Niroshan Dickwella, the regular opener batted in the middle-order in ODIs. He could possibly back to his original position at top of the order.

The hard-hitting Kusal Perera didn’t get an opportunity to play a single game in the ODI series. But as T20I series begin, he has a bright chance to make his return to the XI after quite long time. His last international appearance was on July 2017. Sadeera Samarawickrama who scored a handy 40+ in the final ODI on Sunday, also has a strong point to be in the XI. But based on the experiences, senior players will get the first preferences. Former captain Angelo Mathews had a very good series last week in the form of ODIs. He brought his best with both bat and bowl in the ODIs. Hopefully, Mathews will play a match-winning role for his team on Wednesday. There were plenty of expectations on the batting all-rounder Asela Gunaratne who made his return after sidelined for several months with an injury. But he didn’t make much of impressions in that 50-overs series. Remember, he was the major reason for Sri Lanka’s T20I series victory against Australia in Australia in February. So, he could play key role in this series too.

After played an important role in the test series, all-rounder Dasun Shanaka was dropped for ODIs but he makes his comeback to the squad for T20Is. Shanaka stunned Indian batsmen when Sri Lanka played T20 series against India in India last time. So, possibilities are high for Shanaka to get a game on Wednesday. If Shanaka make into playing XI, then the left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana may be sit out for this game. The latest Sri Lanka’s mystery spin export Akila Dananjaya has a key role to play in this series. If he comes with an economical cum wicket-taking spells then he will stun Indian batsmen for sure. Suranga Lakmal was rested, on his absence Nuwan Pradeep will lead the pace attack in this series. He went for so many runs in the last two ODIs, especially in the second ODI where he conceded over 100 runs in 10 overs. He may make a point by picking 2 wickets at least in this game. Dushmantha Chameera and Vishwa Fernando are other two pacers in the squad. Vishwa Fernando played in the series against Australia earlier this year and he was impressive too. So, he has an upper hand over Chameera.

Cricket is what everyone loves. If you’re ready to play fantasy cricket but don’t know how to analyze players, consider his Articles as the foundation of your fantasy teams. Anand is a cricket blogger and fantasy cricket lover.

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